The assessment of cognition/intelligence in infancy By: Terri L. Shelton Shelton, T.L. (1989). The assessment of cognition/intelligence in infancy. Infants and Young Children, 1(3), 10- 25. Made available courtesy of Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins http://www.lww.com/ The original publication can be found at http://journals.lww.com/iycjournal/pages/default.aspx This is not the final published version. ***Note: Figures may be missing from this format of the document Abstract: This article will review the development of infant cognitive assessment and will describe selected tests. Considerations in choosing, administering, and interpreting the results of infant intelligence/cognitive assessment instruments will be outlined. Finally, the usefulness of cognitive assessment will be discussed along with new approaches to assessment. Article: The cognitive assessment of infants, like intelligence testing in general, has its roots in the intelligence testing movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since that time interest in the development and use of infant cognitive assessment instruments has mushroomed. The passage of Public Law 99- 457 in October of 1986, the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments, established early intervention services for infants from birth through 3 years of age in all states. This legislation also has contributed to an even greater interest in identifying techniques that can be used to document developmental delay, to identify infants at risk, to plan intervention services, and to evaluate their effectiveness. In light of this growing interest, this article will review the development of infant cognitive assessment and will briefly describe some of the tests in current use. Basic considerations in choosing and administering infant intelligence/cognitive assessment instruments will be discussed along with a review of factors that affect the interpretation of the results of these evaluations. Finally, the usefulness of cognitive assessment will be discussed, including the use of information in an interdisciplinary team, the predictive validity of tests, and new approaches to assessment. HISTORIC OVERVIEW Psychometric instruments Arnold Gesell' was the pioneer of infant assessment. Although most infant cognitive assessment instruments that were later developed included many of the items developed by Gesell, his primary purpose in developing the scales was to identify those infants in need of assistance in the area of welfare and hygiene. The initial scales, published in 1925, 1 consisted of 144 items in four general areas: motor, language, adaptive, and personal/social behavior. The purpose of the scales was broad and clinical. An updated version of the scales was published in 1974 by Knobloch and Pasamanick 2 ; it provided more adequate norms for infants from 1 month to 5 years of age. Although Gesell viewed the environment as important, he thought that development was primarily influenced by genetics and the maturational process. While the scales do not yield a specific level of cognitive abilities, but rather developmental quotients in the different areas, the Gesell scales provided the basis for many other assessment instruments, such as the Brunet-Lezine Scale, 3 published in 1951 and largely used in Europe, and the Griffiths Scale of Mental Development, published in 1954. 4 In contrast to Gesell's broad conceptualization of development, Canal 5 specifically set out to develop a